How to print from an iPod, iPhone or iPad, without using a compatible AirPrint printer

When Apple launched iOS 4.2 late last year, one of the great feature additions was AirPrint - the ability to print, wirelessly, from your iPod, iPhone or iPad.

However, in order to use this feature, you needed to have an AirPrint-compatible printer (which nobody had / has).

There aren't that many printer that support Apple AirPrint and like most of us, I was reluctant to buy a new printer. Thankfully, there is a relatively easy workaround that allows you to use pretty much any printer you like with AirPrint.

In order to print from your iDevice to any printer that's connected to a Windows PC, you'll need to do the following:

1) Ensure that either iTunes or the Bonjour Service is installed

2) Determine if your operating system is 32-Bit or 64-Bit. If you have a folder called C:\Program Files (x86)\ then you have a 64-Bit OS. If not, you have a 32-Bit OS.

3a) If you have a 32-Bit OS, create a folder called 'AirPrint' in your Program Files folder, eg. C:\Program Files\AirPrint\

3b) If you have a 64-Bit OS, create a folder called 'AirPrint' in your Program Files (x86) folder, eg. C:\Program Files (x86)\AirPrint\

4) Download the AirPrint zip file from http://richkavanagh.com/blog/airprint.zip

5) Extract the content of the AirPrint zip file into your recently created AirPrint folder (see # 3 above)

6) Hold WindowsKey + R on your keyboard to open a RUN box, type CMD and click OK

7a) If you have a 32-Bit OS, type this in to the CMD window:

sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= "C:\Program Files\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s" depend= "Bonjour Service" start= auto

sc.exe start AirPrint

7b) If you have a 64-Bit OS, type this in to the CMD window:

sc.exe create AirPrint binPath= "C:\Program Files (x86)\AirPrint\airprint.exe -s" depend= "Bonjour Service" start= auto

sc.exe start AirPrint

8) If you have the Windows Firewall installed it might prompt you to allow or deny access to the AirPrint service. If it does, click on the Allow button

That's it, all done!

(don't forget to make sure your printer is shared out)

Now launch any AirPrint app on your iOS device (such as Safari or Mail) click on the action / share icon, then click Print.

It should be as simple as that!

UPDATE: With the launch of iOS5, this trick no longer works. A work-around for iOS5 is available at How to print from an iOS5 iPod, iPhone or iPad, without using a compatible AirPrint printer




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